Beloved sex pest Rolf Harris dead at 93

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Originally published at: Beloved sex pest Rolf Harris dead at 93 | Boing Boing

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and the winner of this month’s Best Band Name award goes to…: Herr Doktor Beschizza!

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Weird headline, @beschizza

He wasn’t “beloved” for being a sex pest.

Turned out he was a lying piece of shit hiding a history of sexual assaults behind his work.

“Once loved,” maybe.

Either way, at least he’s dead.

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It is a weird headline. But it’s a fair one. Harris was coddled and promoted by the BBC, UK media in general, other celebrities and the British establishment, all knowing better, and it’s good to make them eat it even if just for a google news hour. The love they had for him was the greatest barrier to his exposure and prosecution, and remains the greatest barrier we have to a clear public perception of his crimes.

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That’s all true, I just figure there’s a better way to frame it :woman_shrugging:t3:

The BBC sure does love protecting men who commit sex crimes. Maybe it’s due to the unique way they are funded…? :thinking:

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I remember describing Gary Glitter once as a “celebrity pedophile” and receiving similar criticism. I agree that there’s something wrong with the framing but I think it gets to something important about how complicit media, esp. the BBC, was in cultivating the celebrity of these people for weird and ambiguous reasons after becoming aware that crimes were going on. A thing with media monocultures, anywhere hidden figures can decide who is and remains famous and relevant.

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Then your last couple of comments add a bit of useful context as to why that headline.

Thanks for engaging :+1:

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I am a Brit of the age to have watched Rolf Harris and Jimmy Saville on TV when I was a child.

Harris was basically like Bob Ross only funnier. It came as an awful shock when he got revealed as a sex criminal.

Of course Saville was a lot worse, though it doesn’t excuse Harris.

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I always liked Tony Hart better but I dare not google him

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I think I’m going to change it!

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“Kangaroo Tier Dies” ?

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Yep - as a kid I loved ‘Rolf’s Cartoon Time’ - not just because I got to see many of the classic WB and MGM cartoons for the first time, but because he wa genuinely knowledgable about how they were created and how the characters and art form developed.

But now - I just hope he and Savile are in the same select circle of Hell with a seat ready and waiting for Gary Glitter…

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Also, this couplet from “Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport” is racist af.

Let me abos go loose, Bruce. Let me abos go loose.
They’re of no further use, Bruce, so let me abos go loose.

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It’s clear that tolerating people like him was seen as part of showbusiness by the pre war crowd.
British TV was run by veterans of the music hall talent agencies, and their habit of finessing away heart stopping cruelty was positively Victorian.

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Lauren Laverne also had her own “experience”…

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I grew up in the suburb next to Bassendean, where Rolf was from. He was “local boy makes good” until the truth of how much he was a lying piece of shit hiding a history of sexual assaults behind his work (great turn of phrase, thanks @Tamsin_Bailey ). After that it was “Rolf Who??”

All his artwork was taken down and boxed up, the plaques commemorating him were dug up and his name was wiped from everything.

Good riddance to bad rubbish!

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Jake the Peg pegs it?

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